AHN foursome takes down school 4x800 record; Williams eclipses 800 mark

Posted Mar 26, 2010 by Bill Ward

Updated Mar 26, 2010 at 11:28 PM

After being on the books for less than a year, the girls’ 4x800-meter relay record at the Academy of Holy Names fell Friday at the Florida State Relays in Tallahassee.

The foursome of Gina Barbato, Katie Martin, Colleen Doherty and Amanda McWilliams shaved just over two seconds off the old record when they teamed up to run 10 minutes, 1.05 seconds to earn sixth place in the event. The old record of 10:03.19 was set at last season’s district meet, where Barbato and Martin ran legs on that relay. Those two are now a senior and junior, respectively, while Doherty is only a seventh grader and McWilliams a sophomore.

Jaguars coach Kelly Griffin said the splits Friday were 2:33 (Barbato), 2:32 (Martin), 2:30 (Doherty) and 2:24 on McWilliams’ anchor leg.

Later in the meet, McWilliams eclipsed the school’s four-year-old record in the open 800, running a lifetime best 2:21.62. Former Jaguars standout Kristina Darby set the old mark in 2006.

AHN’s celebration of the records was tempered, however, by the injury to standout senior hurdler Saree Moreno, who fell during her race of the 100 hurdles and suffered an apparent ACL injury to her left knee. She was taken to a Tallahassee hospital for examination, Griffin said.